Arrival of Strangers - The Last 500 Years

Economy

High-Steel Workers

"Ironworking has become an avocation for most young
Kahnawake men. They've worked in virtually all parts of the
western world, from Mexico to Greenland, from Alaska to Turkey.
There isn't a significant skyscraper or large structure in North
America that hasn't felt the touch of Indian hands. The success
of Kahnawake in this field led Indians from other nations to
enter this field and they now comprise a substantial part of
this work force."

- Johnny Beauvais in Kahnawake,1985

Since 1850, Iroquois
ironworkers have been
high-rise
construction workers, building bridges
and skyscrapers. A building boom in the 1920s lured
Iroquois ironworkers to join construction teams across Canada
and the United States, particularly in New York City. During the
1980s, 70 per cent of men in Kahnawake worked in high steel. The
profession has taken them to diverse parts of the world, from
South America to the Middle East.